In conversation with Chris Cottom

I’ve been interviewing writers just like you and me since 2012. I started with written interviews called the Thursday Throng, and maybe I’ll bring that archive over to Substack in the future.

In 2020, I changed it to a podcast and the important thing about these conversations is that they are with people who have dared to put their words down on paper (metaphorical or otherwise) for others to read. I find I learn something from all of the lovely writers and authors I speak to, I hope you do too.

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This month my guest is Chris Cottom and in this episode, we talk about:

1. Structured flash fiction using headings to organise the story and narrative.

2. Using magic as an extended metaphor for the story.

3. Extending Hocus Pocus into a longer-length novella in flash.

4. The relationship between writer and reader.

5. The discipline that a restricted word count forces on the writer.

6. Words and writing as a significant part of Chris’s life.

7. The value of belonging to a writing group and attending writing courses.

8. Quantity plus quality as a formula for winning writing competitions.

As mentioned in today’s episode

• Read Hocus Pocus on the Hysteria website.

• Gay Degani’s classic story, Abbreviated Glossary

• National Flash Fiction Day - New Zealand Micro Madness

• Phare’s Flash Dash

• South Warwickshire Literary Festival Writing Competition

• Off the Rails 3 Minute Flash Fiction (for stories for passengers on the Esk Valley Railway between Middlesborough and Whitby)

• Allingham Flash Fiction Competition

• Macc Writers

• Sarah Freligh - Restaurant at the End of the Universe

• Matt Kendrick courses

More stories by Chris

• A Sense of Direction

• Father’s Day

• How to Make a Dad Quilt

• If I Could Find One Word

• Salad Days

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If you’d like to join me on The Art of Being, just leave a comment below.